12 Gender-Affirming Games with Trans and Nonbinary Characters

· Updated on October 4, 2023

Gaymers like myself have moments when they want to escape into a fictional world and be their fullest selves without any repercussions whatsoever. However, this doesn’t mean that we have to settle for Hogwarts Legacy: there are so many amazing games out there that encourage users to take advantage of beautiful fantasy worlds. Check out these games that let you be transgender or nonbinary, and most importantly, have a good time with it!

1. Ikenfell

Available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Windows, and Mac, Ikenfell is made by Happy Ray Studios and is a turn-based tactical RPG. You play as a diverse cast of mischievous magic students as you help search for a sibling missing at a magical school. Two characters (Ima and Rook) are nonbinary, and there are other queer characters as well. Although there is timing involved in the battle system, turning on “Victory Mode” will get you guaranteed hits and allow you to enjoy the story. 

2. BossGame: The Final Boss Is My Heart

If you like games where you fight rounds of bosses, then this PC and mobile game from Lily Valeen is perfect for you. You play as lesbian couple Sophie and Anna, one of whom is also trans.  Using both their unique abilities in rhythmic combat, you help them fight devils, flirt and uncover the secrets of the city they call home. Given that this game is a fast-paced action game that will require quick taps, it is best played on a phone.

3. ValiDate

This visual novel dating sim game made by Veritable Joy Studios is available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox, Steam, and Itch.io. Featuring a cast of twenty-something millennials navigating dating and life in Jercy City, this game is a great way to date virtual hotties across the gender and sexuality spectrum. Unlike other dating sims, the characters here are messy AF and you can enable choices good and bad for them. There is also a lot of diversity in terms of characters of color, body types, and gender identity. 

4. Get In The Car Loser!

Available on Windows, Mac, and itch.io, Get In The Car Loser is a lesbian road trip RPG made by Christine Love. It features four characters who team up with an angel to fight the Machine Devil and his cultists. Featuring vibrant 8-bit pixel graphics and turn-based combat that utilizes each character’s special abilities, this is a fun modern take on retro-style gaming. Not only is the main protagonist Sam a trans lesbian, but she also has healing abilities and is trying to learn more about herself while saving the world.

5. Celeste

An accessible platformer game created by Maddy Makes Games, Celeste is available on Nintendo Switch, Windows, Mac, and Xbox One.  It is about a young trans girl climbing a mountain and facing her depression and anxiety with the help of a quirky cast of characters. Even if you aren’t great at platformers, the game’s assist mode can let you tailor the game to your skill level by making yourself invincible, gaining infinite stamina, slowing the game speed, or even skipping chapters.

6. Pumpkin Days

Developed by Pumpkin Interactive and available on Steam, this farming simulator game lets you farm, fish, mine, catch bugs, and raise animals after picking one of four towns to live in. A notable aspect that makes this game stand out from similar games is that it is very queer. Not only is the character creator not gender locked and you can have same-sex marriages, but you can even have a polyamorous relationship with three people.

7. Heaven Will Be Mine

Created by Pillow Fight Games, Heaven Will Be Mine is a sci-fi romance visual novel game available on Windows, Mac, and iOS. You play three women who pilot mecha robots and fight for different factions while flirting and sexting each other. Two of the women are trans, but there is more to the characters’ story than that. Not only do their stories have multiple endings, but each of them have very different goals for humanity.

8. I Was A Teenaged Exocolonist 

Created by Northway Games, I Was A Teenaged Exocolonist is available on Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4 and 5, Microsoft Windows, and Mac. It is an RPG game with visual novel and deck-building mechanics where you play as Sol, a character living in a space colony. 

Not only do you select your pronouns and whether you appear masculine, feminine, or androgynous when you first make your character, but you can change them anytime as you progress through the game. You decide how you will live your life and how the planet will develop, and these choices become collectible cards that you take with you through multiple lives. 

9. Grow Song of the Evertree

Available on Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, and Playstation 4, this nonviolent fantasy adventure game was developed by Prideful Sloth Games. You play as an alchemist in the world of Alaria as you grow new plant worlds, manage towns, and explore in order to bring back the magical Evertree. When you create your character, you have the option to be non-binary and select how your character’s voice sounds as well as their skin tone and body type.

10. Wildermyth

This tactical RPG is from Worldwalker Games and is available on Mac and Windows. Inspired by tabletop RPGs, you are given choices and your decisions drive your characters and the story forward. You also have the option to make your hero use they/them pronouns and be attracted to certain genders. 

11. Later Daters

Available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and Mac, this visual novel game is from Bloom Digital. A notable aspect of this game is that you play as an elderly person in a retirement community and the game was partially inspired by the love lives of real seniors interviewed by the developers. Storylines in this game include one where a character decides to transition later in life and a sensitively-handled one where a character who is living with HIV has an active sex life.

12. Calico

Developed by Peachy Keen Games and available on Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows, this adorable game features you managing a cat cafe! You fill the cafe with pastries, furniture, and cats and also have the option to pet and play with the cats. With the game’s character creator, you are not restricted by gender and can create your ideal cat-loving person to have fun with in the game.♦

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